


First Dates?

by Marie_Tomas



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Background Clary Fray/Jace Wayland, Background Luke Garroway/Maryse Lightwood, Background Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Clary Fray & Simon Lewis Friendship, Exes, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Family Dinners, Getting Together, Humor, Hurt Isabelle Lightwood, Light Angst, Love Confessions, Madzie is a Lightwood-Bane, Magnus Bane & Isabelle Lightwood Friendship, Mundane Simon Lewis, POV Simon Lewis, Protective Older Brothers, Secret Crush, Simon Lewis Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:27:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26144101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marie_Tomas/pseuds/Marie_Tomas
Summary: In an attempt to get her mom off her back about finding a nice guy to date, Izzy asks Simon to pretend to be her boyfriend at a family dinner.Simon is a little reluctant to be Izzy's fake boyfriend, because he's sure that his not-so-fake feelings for her will be obvious, but in the end he agrees to help his friend out.On the evening of the Lightwood family dinner, it doesn't take long for Simon to work out that Izzy is struggling in the aftermath of her parents' separation, especially as her mom has now moved on with her new romance with Luke. And, as the family dinner gradually descends into chaos, Simon eventually finds out that there's something else that Izzy has been keeping from him, too.
Relationships: Simon Lewis/Isabelle Lightwood
Comments: 9
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I realised that I haven't written a fan-fiction focused on Sizzy, and I wanted to try to write something for this pairing in the same way that I've written fan-fiction focused on Malec and Clace before.
> 
> Set in a Mundane/human AU where Simon agrees to pretend to be Izzy's boyfriend at a family dinner.

"Hey, Simon…"

Simon Lewis had barely opened the front door of his Brooklyn apartment on what had so far been a typical Thursday evening when he was greeted by Isabelle Lightwood, who was leaning against the doorframe with a smile on her face that looked a little _too_ casual and did nothing to hide the hint of tension in her body language.

Izzy might have only been wearing casual clothes-a dark T-shirt and jeans coupled with a dark blue leather jacket, with her hair falling in gentle curls over her shoulders, but she still looked like the most beautiful woman that Simon had ever seen in person, which made it a little difficult for Simon to find the words to offer her some sort of greeting like a normal human being would.

He felt a little under-dressed in his glasses and his faded jeans and his _Star Wars_ T-shirt; luckily, Izzy hadn't commented on his choice of clothes, even though she had looked him up and down a couple of times when Simon first opened the door, no doubt silently judging him for the _Star Wars_ T-shirt.

Simon didn't know what was wrong with him; or more accurately, he didn't know why Izzy always had this effect on him. He was no longer the awkward, nerdy teenager that he used to be back at high school…okay, so he was still awkward, and nerdy, but he'd actually been on dates with several women since graduating high school, and he'd even had a couple of serious relationships.

He was also known for being really talkative; he could strike up a conversation with just about anybody now.

But still, being in the presence of Isabelle Lightwood always seemed to take Simon back to his inexperienced high school years, and she kind of always rendered him speechless whenever he was in close proximity to her.

"Izzy! Hey!" Simon finally managed to get out after a few moments of staring at Izzy in total silence. He had no idea why he was stammering, or why his voice sounded strangely high-pitched. "H-how are you?" he added, sounding a little breathless now.

It seemed like Izzy had picked up on some of his awkwardness: "Why are you being weird?" she asked Simon with a frown on her face before she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Weird?" Simon repeated as he felt his face start to heat up in his embarrassment. "I'm not being weird…" For some reason, he took a step back, stumbling into the small table that was just behind him in the hallway, and knocking a pile of paperwork to the floor in the process, which he was sure only confirmed to Izzy that he definitely was being weird.

Simon was distracted for a few moments with picking up the pieces of paper that had scattered all over the floor, some of which were full of song lyrics for Simon's next rehearsal with his band, and with trying not to think too much about how he was probably blushing bright red right now, while Izzy knelt down to help him pick everything back up.

"Simon, I kind of need a favour," Izzy informed him the moment they had both stood up again.

Simon noticed that her tone of voice sounded a little apologetic, and she definitely seemed tense still.

"A favour?" Simon repeated, trying hard not to blurt out that he would do anything she wanted. He was sure that would make him seem even more weird.

"Yeah," said Izzy, looking uncharacteristically nervous now. "My mom and…my mom and her new boyfriend, Luke, have organised a family dinner this Saturday night-"

"Maryse and Luke are together now?" Simon couldn't help interrupting to ask. Simon was secretly a hopeless romantic, and he always got strangely invested in all the romances that were going on around him, and he'd kind of been rooting for Luke and Maryse since the two of them had started to spend a lot of time together recently. "That's awesome!"

"Yeah," said Izzy, with her tone of voice and the uncomfortable expression that crossed her face kind of suggesting that she really didn't think it was awesome. "Anyway," she continued, as she seemed to regain her composure, "Clary and Jace are going to be there as a couple, and Magnus and Alec will be there as a married couple, and the thing with my mom is, every time I go to a family dinner alone, she asks constant questions about why I'm single, and why I can't just find a nice guy, and why I can't be happy in a relationship the way that my brothers are…And then, all the times I've actually been in a relationship and taken a boyfriend to a family dinner, Mom _never_ approves of him, and she starts to ask questions about why I can't date somebody who's more reliable, or somebody more sensitive…" She rolled her eyes before she continued: "And I figured, this family dinner is going to be awkward enough, and if I could just find a nice, stable, sensible guy to pretend to be my new boyfriend for one night so I could get my mom off my back for a little while, it would make things easier…"

"You want me to be your fake boyfriend at the family dinner?" Simon asked her with a confused frown.

Izzy nodded, still looking a little apprehensive.

Simon wasn't sure how he felt about the idea of fitting into the image of 'nice, stable, sensible boyfriend'. Something like that kind of played into his securities about always being the 'safe choice boyfriend', or the 'back up boyfriend'; someone who women turned to when their relationships went wrong, or when they were running out of options. They were the kind of insecurities that Simon's unofficial 'nemesis' Jace always played into whenever the two of them were having really bad arguments. But still, Simon didn't think that Izzy would ever intentionally hurt him like that.

Anyway, he wasn't even sure that his life really was that stable. Sure, he lived in a nice apartment, and he could afford to pay rent every month, and his band had been getting pretty regular work lately, even if Simon did have to take on extra shifts at various local bars most weeks to help make ends meet, but still, he didn't think that any of that would impress a family like the Lightwoods. The Lightwood family ran one of the biggest law firms in Brooklyn, and they were pretty wealthy, and they were always so well-dressed, and they could be pretty ruthless, when they wanted to be. Already, Simon was starting to feel a little intimidated at the thought of spending an evening with them.

Not to mention that Simon could be a little awkward in formal settings. He would usually end up talking too fast, or saying the first thing that came into his head, or saying the wrong thing, or dropping things, or tripping over thin air and falling over…

"I know it's a little weird," said Izzy, snapping Simon out of his thoughts. Her expression was serious now, and she still sounded apologetic. "But you would really be helping me out. We could come up with some reason why we broke up a couple weeks after the dinner, so you'd be free to date again…"

Simon couldn't help feeling a wave of disappointment as Izzy spoke, even though he had never been under any illusions that Izzy had ever liked him as more than a friend. Of course Izzy would only ever want him as a fake boyfriend; the 'nice guy' who she could pretend to date for just one evening to get her family off her back before she no doubt went running into the arms of a real boyfriend in the near future; probably a guy who was more of a Raphael or a Meliorn than a Simon.

It didn't help that Simon had had a crush on Izzy since he first met her. He wasn't sure that it was even possible to _not_ have a crush on Isabelle Lightwood. Sure, he thought that she was beautiful, but for Simon, Izzy was so much more than that. When Izzy walked into a room, she just seemed to command everyone's attention. There was a confidence to her as she danced in the middle of every dance floor, with all eyes in the room on her. She was so good at everything she turned her hand to in the world of work, from helping out with the Lightwoods' family business to organising big events at the clubs that Magnus Bane owned in the city. Izzy worked out like a pro at the gym, often taking on guys who were twice her height and weight, and doing better than them every single time. There was also something special about the loving and protective look that crossed her face when she was taking care of her friends and her brothers. Gradually, Simon's feelings for Izzy had turned into much more than just a crush.

But why would someone like Izzy ever have feelings for him? Izzy was one of the coolest women in Brooklyn, while Simon spent his spare time organising _Star Wars_ and _Marvel_ movie marathons, and attending _Game of Thrones_ themed parties, and re-reading the _Harry Potter_ series for what was probably the hundredth time.

Even though Simon told himself over and over that he was no longer at high school, the reality was that the real world often felt a lot like high school, and back at high school, the prom queen would never have fallen for the nerd. That kind of thing only really happened in Simon's favourite comic books.

"Clary will be there," said Izzy, like she was now trying to think up reasons why Simon would want to go to the dinner. "You guys could catch up. And Magnus and Alec will probably bring Madzie; she always loves spending time with you. And you get on with Luke, and Magnus…"

Simon pretended to think it over. He didn't want to admit to Izzy that he didn't really need any extra reasons to spend time with her. Sure, Clary had been Simon's best friend since middle school (that was how he'd got to know the Lightwoods in the first place, when Clary had started to date Jace), and it was true that he liked spending time with Magnus and Madzie and Luke, but he would have happily spent an evening with Izzy anyway, no matter who else was there.

He liked hanging out with Izzy, even though he always blushed and stumbled over his words whenever she was around. She always came to watch his band perform, and sometimes they went to get coffee together, or they walked through the park together on the way back from training at the gym, sharing conversations about their day. Up until recently, Simon hadn't seen Izzy so much, because she'd been dating Raphael, and he'd really missed hanging out with her. He just wasn't so sure if Izzy had missed hanging out with him.

"Simon, what do you think?" Izzy prompted him, as she seemed to watch him intently.

Simon hesitated in giving an answer.

He was still a little uncomfortable at the idea of being Izzy's fake boyfriend (and the idea of being 'fake dumped' a week or two after the family dinner), and he was already feeling nervous at the idea of being in a room with so many Lightwoods, but then he figured that he didn't have any other plans for Saturday night, and it would be nice to spend some time with his friend Clary, even if he had to endure an evening of sarcastic comments from Jace as payoff, and it would be good to see Luke again…and, for one night, he could pretend that he was on an actual date with Izzy; he could pretend that he really was Izzy's boyfriend. Maybe he could look back on the night and take some sort of comfort from the memory when Izzy eventually ended up with some other guy.

"Sure, why not," he eventually told Izzy with what he hoped was a casual-looking shrug and smile.

"Simon, thank you," she told him. She really sounded like she meant it too. "What do you want in return?" she suddenly asked him.

"Huh?" said Simon, feeling confused.

"In return for helping me out," Izzy explained to him slowly with a smile on her face. "Do you need a favour in return?"

Simon had to stop himself from saying that he hadn't even thought about asking for anything in return. He knew that saying something like that would sound a little ridiculous to someone like Izzy, especially as the Lightwoods were so business-minded, and they never did professional favours for anyone unless they could ensure that they were going to get something in return.

Simon was just happy to help a friend out, but he thought that he should maybe at least pretend to want something in return; if not, it might make it seem a little too obvious that he was kind of secretly in love with Isabelle Lightwood. Anyway, both Magnus and Jace had implied before that people kind of walked all over Simon and took advantage of his generosity, and Simon had really been working on setting boundaries lately.

"Uh…we could use more numbers at the gig next week," said Simon, referring to a gig that his band would be playing at a local coffee shop next Friday night; a gig that Izzy already knew about.

"Consider it done," Izzy told him with a smile, and Simon knew that she would show up at the gig with a bunch of friends and influential work colleagues, and help to bring much-needed publicity for the band, in return for him agreeing to pretend to be her boyfriend at the family dinner.

Izzy told Simon the details of the restaurant where the family dinner would take place on Saturday night, and they made plans for Izzy to meet Simon at the apartment before they'd take a cab to the restaurant together, and then Izzy thanked him one more time before she turned to head out of the apartment door.

Simon couldn't help noticing however that Izzy looked a little distant and distracted the moment she started to turn away from him. He had a sneaking suspicion that there was something she wasn't telling him.

* * *

Simon felt more than a little nervous in the run up to the Lightwood family dinner.

On Friday, he could barely focus on anything, and he ended up calling off his band rehearsal early, before he went home and pulled out almost all of his clothes from his closet, desperately trying to decide what to wear, and feeling like nothing was good enough.

He wasn't sure that he had ever felt this nervous before an actual, real date, and this upcoming date was only going to be a fake one.

Still unable to decide what he was going to wear, Simon knew that he was going to have to call one of his friends for advice.

Usually, he would have called Clary, but he decided he couldn't do that this time, in case she didn't know about the whole 'fake dating' thing, or maybe Izzy hadn't even told anyone yet that she would be bringing Simon as her 'date'.

He couldn't call Magnus, because Magnus was one of Izzy's best friends, and he could end up telling Izzy that Simon had called him in a state of panic about the 'date', which would be pretty embarrassing.

Eventually, Simon tried calling his ex, Maia, who said sarcastically, "Yeah, because this isn't weird," the moment Simon explained why he was calling. She offered him a little advice, but Simon had the impression that she couldn't wait for the call to end.

Simon ended up calling his sister, which he was sure was pretty tragic, but at the very least, she offered him some advice on a few 'smart-casual' outfits he could wear, as well as reminding him not to say anything embarrassing during the family dinner. Simon also had to remind his sister several times that he and Izzy weren't actually dating, as she seemed way too enthusiastic about the upcoming date, and she kept repeating that she thought the two of them would make an amazing couple.

His sister didn't seem convinced that this was just some kind of fake date, but she at least gave him a few ideas for phrases and gestures that he could use to make his role as Izzy's boyfriend seem more convincing.

* * *

Saturday evening seemed to somehow arrive both too quickly and too slowly.

In the run up to Izzy's arrival, Simon started pacing up and down his apartment, unable to sit still due to his nerves.

His throat felt a little dry, and he somehow felt a little too hot and a little too cold at the same time.

At the very least, he thought that he looked kind of smart, dressed in a dark shirt and trousers, with his hair neatly combed and styled, and he'd chosen to wear contacts instead of glasses. He wasn't sure that he'd be able to compete with the guys who Izzy typically dated, but he _was_ sure that he would at least fit into the role of 'sensible boyfriend' for the evening.

A knock at the door announced Izzy's arrival.

As Simon opened the door, the sight of Izzy dressed in a short black skirt, a low-cut black shirt, high-heeled boots and with her hair tied back, showing more of her beautiful face, almost took Simon's breath away.

"Wow," Simon heard himself say, before he could stop himself. "I mean," he stuttered, trying to regain his composure, "y-you look beautiful…" He started to blush, realising that it was probably too much, to say something like that to his fake girlfriend. "You look amazing…I mean, you look great, Izzy," he finished, grinning apologetically at his own awkwardness.

Luckily, Izzy didn't seem surprised by his reaction. "I know, I'm hot," she told Simon with a smirk and a shrug.

Simon might have smiled at her in return, but he was still blushing. It didn't help that Simon suddenly noticed a few of his neighbours passing in the hallway just behind Izzy. Simon had always got along well with his neighbours, to the point where the elderly ladies who lived on the same floor as him were probably a little over-invested in his life in general, and his love-life in particular. Right now, a few of those ladies were looking curiously at Izzy, while a few others were craning their necks to get a better look at Simon.

"We have an audience," Izzy mouthed to Simon with another smirk on her face, looking nowhere near as embarrassed as Simon currently felt.

With a quick glance over her shoulder at the neighbours, she turned back to Simon with a grin and held out her right hand to him.

Simon, who was still in a dazed and confused state at the sight of Izzy standing in his doorway and looking so perfect, didn't work out that Izzy wanted him to kiss her hand and put on a good show for the neighbours until he had already reached out to take her hand in his and given her a weird, awkward handshake.

Simon couldn't help sighing to himself as he let go of Izzy's hand, noticing that she seemed to look strangely disappointed as she dropped her hand to her side again. Even the neighbours looked disappointed as they carried on walking towards the building's main staircase.

Simon was going to mess things up tonight, he just knew it. Either he wouldn't be convincing enough as Izzy's boyfriend, and her family would work out that this thing between them was totally fake, or he would be way too convincing, and his feelings for Izzy would be written all over his face. Maybe the Lightwoods would pity him, as it would also no doubt be obvious to them that Izzy didn't feel the same way about him.

Simon was about to apologise out loud for his awkwardness, but Izzy's eyes now seemed to be focused on something over Simon's shoulder.

A quick glance behind him confirmed that Izzy was looking at the huge _Superman_ poster that Simon had displayed on the hallway wall this week. The poster's position in the hallway had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now he couldn't help blushing. He wished that he'd thought to take the _Superman_ poster down before Izzy arrived. She probably thought that he was such a geek.

Luckily, Izzy didn't say anything about it. "Are you ready to go?" she asked him instead with a raised eyebrow, actually sounding nervous now, for the first time since she'd arrived.

Simon nodded, although it did take several more minutes before he was actually ready, because he stumbled around for a little while, looking for his jacket and his keys and his wallet, struggling to even keep co-ordinated; being around Izzy kind of always made it difficult for him to think clearly.

Finally, he was ready to go.

He raised his head and squared his shoulders and took a few deep breaths.

"Let's do this," Simon muttered to himself as he headed out of the apartment door, with Izzy a few steps ahead of him.

* * *

"You know," said Izzy, the moment the two of them were out in the hallway, "I never got how Lois Lane couldn't tell that Superman and Clark Kent were the same person; I mean, just because Clark wore glasses, she couldn't tell that he was the same guy?"

"You watch _Superman_?" Simon asked Izzy, unable to help the huge grin that spread over his face, in spite of his surprise at hearing this news. "When did this earth-shattering event happen?"

Izzy smiled back at Simon, and the two of them started talking enthusiastically about _Superman_. Simon had to refrain from jumping up and down in excitement at the idea that Izzy liked something that he liked.

It was so easy for Simon, to talk to Izzy about stuff like this. He didn't blush or stutter or trip over his words once, and Izzy didn't seem to be judging him for his _Superman_ obsession.

The conversation carried them all the way down the stairs and out of the apartment building's main doors.

* * *

When they were outside the apartment building, Izzy suddenly stopped, and Simon noticed that she looked tense again.

"We should take a picture," Izzy announced.

"Huh?" Simon asked her, feeling a little confused.

"The others-Jace, Clary, Magnus, Alec…they always have pictures to show at family dinners…"

Simon was still feeling a little confused, but he worked out that Izzy wanted to have some kind of picture saved on her phone of the two of them looking like a couple, so that their 'relationship' would seem more convincing at the family dinner when the other couples started to share their own pictures.

Izzy reached for her phone, and it seemed like she was about to take a picture of the two of them standing outside the old apartment block, when Simon suddenly got a better idea.

"Wait," he told Izzy gently, before he nodded his head in the direction of a mural that had been painted on a wall a few feet away from the apartment block.

Simon had always liked the mural, with its pictures of hearts and flowers incorporated into the design, and he thought it would make a better background for a picture than the walls of the apartment building. Izzy seemed to agree, because she nodded when Simon suggested that the mural would make a more convincing backdrop for their 'couple photo'.

The two of them ended up posing for a photo standing in front of the mural with their arms around each another. Simon did his best to smile and look casual and relaxed, and he tried his best _not_ to think about how natural it felt to hold Izzy in his arms while she took a picture of the two of them, with the sweet smell of her perfume dancing in the air around them, and the hearts from the mural positioned right over their heads.

* * *

After they had taken a picture, they managed to hail a cab to take them to the restaurant.

As they settled into the back of the cab, Simon noticed that Izzy seemed to glance at the photo of the two of them several times. He felt weirdly pleased about this, but then he shook his head, reminding himself that Izzy wasn't admiring the picture and was instead checking that it looked convincing for fake dating purposes.

Finally, Izzy looked up from her phone. "How are the band rehearsals going?" she asked Simon, looking genuinely interested.

When Simon had first met Izzy, he'd thought that she was mocking him with her seeming interest in his band, but over time he'd realised that Izzy really did love bands and music, and she had shown up enough times at his gigs to convince him that she really cared about the band being successful.

And so Simon launched into a detailed explanation about the band's most recent rehearsals, and their upcoming gigs, and a few songs that he'd been working on.

The two of them ended up listening to a few of the band's new songs on Simon's phone, sharing the earphones that Simon always carried around in his jacket pocket.

As the music played through the earphones, Izzy swayed a little in her seat in time to the beat of the music, smiling at Simon whenever she caught his eye, and offering Simon the occasional insightful comment about the song lyrics for each new track.

Simon loved to see her like this; open, unguarded. He wished that he got to see her like this every day.

As Izzy moved a little closer to him, Simon could almost imagine that they were a real boyfriend and girlfriend, sharing earphones and listening to music together in the back seat of a cab as they headed to a restaurant for a romantic date…

Trying to ignore these not-so-fake feelings, and already starting to regret agreeing to play Izzy's fake boyfriend for the evening, Simon played a couple more songs for Izzy on his phone.

* * *

Izzy might have smiled and danced for the first part of the journey, but as the cab got closer to the restaurant, she seemed to visibly tense up.

She went quiet, and she sat with her fists clenched, an intense expression on her face as she stared ahead.

Simon wondered what it was about this evening that was bothering her.

When the cab pulled up outside the restaurant, Simon was almost distracted by his own nerves. The restaurant looked kind of fancy, and already, he could see Luke and Maryse through the large glass window at the front of the restaurant, the two of them smartly dressed and sitting at a large table, waiting for all the guests to arrive, and Simon knew that the fake boyfriend show was about to get started for real now...

But as Simon glanced at Izzy, he saw that she looked even more nervous than he felt, and even though he had no clue what was bothering her, he knew that he had to keep it together, for her sake.

"Are you ready to do this?" Simon asked Izzy after he'd paid the cab fare, trying to keep his tone of voice soft, gentle, soothing, and trying to sound braver than he felt.

Izzy blinked rapidly a few times, as though she had been a million miles away and Simon's words had just brought her back to reality.

After staring at Simon with an unreadable expression on her face for a little while, she finally answered: "As ready as I'll ever be."

"Hey, everything's gonna be okay," Simon tried to reassure her, even though he didn't know why she was so worried. If anything, he knew that he should be the one who was scared. From what he remembered from their few meetings in the past, Maryse Lightwood could be pretty terrifying. "I'll be right there with you, the whole time…that's what fake boyfriends do, right?" he attempted to joke.

Izzy nodded, looking like she was fighting off an affectionate smile, while Simon reached over to open the cab door.

Just before Simon could open the door however, Izzy moved a little closer to him, and, to his total surprise, she placed a gentle kiss to his cheek, before she quickly moved away from him again. It happened so fast that Simon almost convinced himself that he'd only imagined it.

"W-what was that for?" Simon asked her, still in a state of shock as he blushed and held his hand up to the exact spot on his cheek where Izzy had just kissed him. Nobody could see them here, and the kiss on the cheek would therefore serve no purpose for their fake dating narrative.

"For being you," Izzy told him in barely more than a whisper.


	2. Chapter 2

Simon stepped out of the cab first, and then he held the door open for Izzy. He knew that she would think he was just playing up to his fake boyfriend role, but the gesture had come automatically to him.

He still felt a little dazed by the kiss on the cheek, but he knew that he would have to regain his composure, and fast. Izzy was counting on him to be a convincing fake boyfriend this evening.

Next to him, Izzy seemed to be standing tall and squaring her shoulders, her body language similar to Simon's when he'd first stepped out of his apartment door to go on this fake date.

Izzy took a couple steps forward, walking towards the restaurant, but then she stopped as she noticed Jace and Clary walking towards the restaurant, approaching from Simon and Izzy's left.

Jace and Clary were walking hand-in-hand, the two of them leaning into one another and laughing as they shared what sounded like a private joke about a motorcycle. They were so busy looking at each other that they didn't seem to notice that Izzy and Simon were standing only a few feet away from them.

"We should wait a minute," Izzy told Simon in a low voice as Jace and Clary headed through the main doors to the restaurant.

"You wanna make an entrance, huh?" Simon asked her with a grin, quickly working out that Izzy wouldn't want to trail in behind Jace and Clary; she wanted all eyes on her and her 'new boyfriend' when they entered the restaurant.

Izzy grinned back at him, making Simon wish that he could make her smile like that all the time.

So they waited for a couple of minutes as Clary and Jace headed over to the table inside the restaurant and greeted Luke and Maryse.

"Okay, let's go," Izzy finally told Simon.

She took a couple more steps forward, then she stopped as she seemed to think of something.

She turned back to look at Simon and held her hand out to him, a pointed look on her face as she looked from her outstretched hand to Simon.

Simon got what she wanted; she thought their relationship would look more authentic if they walked into the restaurant hand-in-hand, the way that Clary and Jace had just done.

With his heart starting to beat faster, Simon reached out and took Izzy's hand.

He was sure that he felt some sort of weird jolt or spark pass between their joined hands, but then he shook his head, telling himself that he'd only imagined it.

* * *

The two of them walked up the three steps leading up to the restaurant and through the main doors hand-in-hand.

Simon couldn't help feeling like an inexperienced teenager who'd got to hold his crush's hand for the first time. He was trying not to let it show just how happy he was at holding Izzy's hand in his, but something about it really felt right.

Izzy entered the restaurant with a confident swagger and a smirk on her face, drawing admiring glances from both waiters and waitresses the moment she stepped inside.

Simon couldn't help noticing that a disapproving look crossed Izzy's mom's face when she saw the outfit her daughter was wearing. She looked from Izzy's low-cut shirt to her high-heeled boots and sighed, then she closed her eyes and shook her head.

Simon realised that Izzy hadn't just selected her outfit to make an impression this evening; she'd chosen it deliberately to annoy her mom.

Izzy might have entered the restaurant with confidence, opening her mouth as though to make a loud announcement that she was here with her boyfriend, but all of that seemed to go out the window when she noticed that somebody else was sitting at the restaurant table…

"Max!" Izzy practically screamed, sounding surprised and delighted and a little emotional all at the same time.

Izzy had told Simon a little while ago that her younger brother, Max, had been spending most of his time in LA recently since her dad had moved there after her parents' separation. Izzy had explained that her dad had managed to get Max into a great school there, and Robert Lightwood had used this as an excuse as to why Max should relocate there. From the way she'd explained all of this to Simon, with a few sighs and not-so-happy expressions, Simon had got the impression that Izzy didn't agree with her dad's way of thinking.

Max looked up from his phone the moment he heard his sister call out to him. "Izzy!" he shouted in return, looking equally happy to see her.

Simon guessed that Max's visit to Brooklyn this weekend had only been a last-minute thing, and Maryse had therefore probably decided to turn his arrival into some kind of surprise at the family dinner.

Izzy let go of Simon's hand and started to run towards her younger brother, and Max jumped up from his seat so that the two of them could run into each other's arms.

"You're really here," Simon heard Izzy whisper in her brother's ear as she knelt down and pulled him into a hug.

Simon could practically see the tears forming in Izzy's eyes, and he felt his heart break a little on her behalf. He could only imagine how difficult it must be, to suddenly have to adapt to a younger sibling living so far away, and not getting to see them very often.

As Max and Izzy continued to hug, Simon noticed Maryse and Luke approaching him.

"Simon! Hey!" Luke called out to him with a grin on his face as he headed right over to Simon and greeted him with a handshake and a friendly pat on the shoulder.

Simon grinned at him in return. He had known Luke for years, and the two of them had always got along. Simon had never really been sure if Luke and Clary's mom had ever been together romantically, but Luke had always been something of a father figure to Clary, and Simon had got to know Luke through all the time he'd spent with Clary when they were growing up.

Simon might have felt relaxed around Luke, but he couldn't help feeling a little nervous as Maryse approached him. Maryse had always seemed so stern and so cold from the few times that Simon had met her in the past, but he was surprised to see that tonight, there was a warm, friendly smile on her face as she looked at Simon.

"Ah, the famous Simon Lewis!" she said to Simon, taking him by surprise all over again when she pulled him in for a hug.

"Izzy's told us so much about you," Maryse added as she pulled back from the hug, no doubt noticing the confused frown on Simon's face. With a smile still on her face, Maryse surveyed Simon like she was already his proud mother-in-law.

"S-she has?" Simon asked her, feeling even more confused by this announcement. Why would Izzy tell her mom so much about him? Why would Izzy even talk about him to anyone?

"Of course," said Maryse. "She talks about you all the time…"

It took all of Simon's effort not to show his shock at these words in his facial expression. He tried to nod along and look as though he thought it was a totally normal thing that Izzy would talk about her 'boyfriend' all the time, but he wasn't sure how convincing he looked.

Maryse however didn't seem to be studying Simon's facial expressions too closely. Her focus seemed to be entirely on Luke, and Simon noticed that the two of them shared several coy glances and shy smiles when Luke moved to stand even closer to her.

Simon still couldn't get over the change in Maryse; her body language was so relaxed, and she was practically glowing with happiness. Had Luke been the one to bring about this change in her?

Izzy seemed to realise that she had left Simon all alone with her mom and Luke, because she let go of Max and headed over to the three of them, throwing an apologetic-looking glance at Simon as she moved closer to him.

"This is my…boyfriend, Simon," Izzy announced to her mom. She sounded a little uncertain, and like she was maybe trying on the words for size.

Maryse gave Izzy a slightly exasperated expression that almost looked like she was silently saying, 'Yes, Izzy, we already know that…', but luckily, she didn't say anything out loud.

A tense kind of silence then passed between the four of them; Izzy didn't seem to have much else to say to Maryse and Luke, and she even looked away when Luke put his arm around Maryse.

Jace and Clary, who had been at the bar ordering drinks, chose that moment to head back towards the table.

"Izzy! Simon!" Simon heard Clary calling out enthusiastically the moment she spotted them.

Izzy and Clary practically ran into each other's arms, looking really happy to see each other, and then Clary went to give Simon a hug while Izzy went to hug Jace.

"I'm so happy for you guys," Clary whispered in Simon's ear as she threw her arms around him.

Simon felt a little uncomfortable at Clary's words. So Clary didn't know that this was all fake. She sounded so happy about the 'relationship', too; she would probably be sad to hear about Simon and Izzy's 'break up' in a couple weeks. More than ever, Simon wished that his relationship with Izzy could be real.

When Simon pulled back from his hug with Clary, he noticed that Jace was glaring at him.

"I'm Izzy's brother," Jace said with a scowl as he folded his arms.

"Jace," said Simon with a sigh and a roll of his eyes, already irritated that Jace had introduced himself as though they didn't know each other, "you and I were drinking beer together at a bar last weekend, the same way we seem to end up drinking at bars together almost every Saturday night. We were training together at the gym four days ago…I kicked your ass," Simon couldn't help adding with a smug grin.

"Yeah, well," said Jace with another glare, "right now, I'm Izzy's brother, and if you do anything to hurt her, I'm gonna be the one kicking your ass-"

" _Jace_ ," Izzy cut her brother off before she threw a warning glance in his direction, while Clary rolled her eyes at him.

The awkward conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Alec, Magnus and Madzie.

Alec walked through the restaurant door with an arm around his husband, while he carried their adopted daughter, Madzie, in his other arm. The three of them looked like a perfect family.

Magnus walked into the restaurant with a confidence that Simon could only wish that he himself possessed. His expensive-looking purple shirt and sparkling jeans and jewellery were a complete contrast to Alec, who was dressed all in black, but somehow they still seemed to complement one another.

Madzie had her face buried in Alec's shoulder, and she seemed to be holding on tight to the sleeve of Alec's shirt while Alec whispered soothing-sounding words in her ear.

Simon already knew that Madzie could be really shy, especially when she was around large groups of people, and it could take her a little while to interact with people. Simon guessed that this was maybe the reason why Alec was hanging back a little while Magnus seemed to be greeting everyone on behalf of the whole Lightwood-Bane family.

"Maryse!" Magnus called out as he headed over in Izzy's mom's direction. "You look stunning, as always."

Simon had always had the impression that Maryse had never really approved of Magnus and Alec's relationship, but maybe he'd been wrong about that, because right now, Maryse was greeting Magnus like a long-lost friend. The two of them hugged, and then they laughed as they seemed to share a few private jokes with one another.

"And Luke!" Magnus continued when Luke walked over to the two of them. "Looking as handsome as ever," he added in jokey, playful tone of voice.

After Magnus had hugged Luke, he went over to say hi to Jace and Clary, before he spotted Izzy and Simon.

"Isabelle, darling!" said Magnus, as he walked over to his best friend with his arms outstretched.

Izzy looked so happy to see him, and she quickly ran into his arms to hug him.

The two of them even made a big show of giving each other pretentious-looking kisses on both cheeks, and Simon guessed that they were mocking the formality of the event; he had a feeling that the two of them did this a lot.

"Magnus, this is my boyfriend, Simon," said Izzy with a smile as she stepped back a little and put her arm around Simon's shoulders. Simon couldn't help noticing that she sounded a little more comfortable introducing him as her boyfriend this time.

"Ah, of course," said Magnus with a grin as he hugged Simon, too.

When Magnus stepped back from the hug, Simon noticed that there was definitely a very knowing smirk on Magnus's face, and it was like there was a twinkle in his eyes. Simon suspected that Magnus had already worked out that the 'relationship' was fake. Magnus almost looked amused at the idea of watching it all play out around the table tonight.

From over Magnus's shoulder, Simon noticed that Madzie had moved out of Alec's arms, and she was now standing next to Alec instead, still looking a little nervous.

"Max!" Madzie called out the moment she spotted Max sitting at the table. She started to run towards him with a smile on her face.

"Madzie!" Max called out with a grin as he turned in his seat and held his arms out to Madzie.

The two of them hugged, and then they ended up sitting next to each other at the table as Max showed Madzie a couple of new games on his phone, with Madzie looking a lot less anxious now. Simon thought it was sweet that Max was so caring with Madzie, especially as he was a few years older than her.

The sweetness of the moment quickly evaporated however when Alec moved to stand opposite Simon and Izzy. There was a glare on Alec's face, and his body language was defensive. It was a complete contrast to how Alec had looked only moments ago when he'd been comforting Madzie.

"I'm Izzy's older brother," said Alec as he looked Simon up and down a couple times before he frowned. Had Alec always been so tall? "Family is very important to me," he added, speaking slowly, his tone of voice low, almost deadly. It was somehow way more intimidating than Jace's glares and scowls had been a few minutes ago. "If you do _anything_ to hurt my sister-"

"Easy, big brother," said Izzy as she put a hand up to Alec's chest, like she was trying to hold him back.

Simon had to resist the urge to take a step back. He was glad that Maryse chose that moment to invite them all to take a seat around the large, circular table.

Simon headed towards the opposite end of the table from Maryse and Luke, trying to put some distance between himself and Alec and deciding that he didn't want to be sitting close enough to Izzy's mom to invite too much scrutiny from her about his 'relationship'.

As he headed towards an available seat, Simon saw Alec leaning towards Izzy to talk to her.

"You have a new boyfriend?" he heard Alec mutter into her ear, his tone of voice demanding. "Why am I the last to know?"

"Alec, relax," Izzy told him, sounding nowhere near as intimidated as Simon had probably looked when Alec had confronted him.

Alec opened his mouth as though to say something else, but then he seemed to get distracted by the sight of Magnus, who was heading towards an empty seat.

"Here, let me get that for you," Alec said to Magnus as he walked over to him and pulled out the chair for him, now looking like the perfect gentleman. His tone of voice was much softer as he spoke to his husband.

Simon already knew that Magnus had always been strong and independent, but still he smiled indulgently at his husband as Alec held out the chair for him and then ran a hand affectionately up and down his arm the moment Magnus sat down.

Although they were married and raising a child, Magnus and Alec always seemed to look at each other like two people who were in the early stages of romance, their eyes full of hope and love. Simon couldn't help feeling a little jealous. He'd never even got close to having a relationship as loving as theirs.

As Magnus placed a gentle kiss to Alec's cheek, and Clary leaned in a little closer to Jace, and Luke gently brushed a few stray strands of hair away from Maryse's face, Simon secretly wondered if it was a little weird for Izzy, too, to be constantly surrounded by all these happy couples, especially when she had only broken up with her now ex-boyfriend pretty recently.

Maryse and Luke took their seats almost directly opposite Simon and Izzy and next to Magnus and Alec. Madzie and Max sat to Simon and Izzy's left, while Clary and Jace sat to their right.

The moment he sat down, Simon noticed that Jace and Alec seemed to be having some sort of furious silent conversation that consisted mainly of angry facial expressions and hand gestures. After a few seconds, Jace nodded his head pretty aggressively in Simon's direction before he looked back at Alec with a raised eyebrow and a questioning expression on his face. Alec looked back at Jace and shrugged, looking just as annoyed and as confused as Jace did.

"Uh…can the two of them communicate telepathically, or something?" Simon asked Izzy, trying to make a joke of it, even though he probably sounded a little uneasy.

"It can feel that way sometimes," said Izzy with a shrug, before she turned to look right at Simon. She must have picked up on the nervous expression on his face, because she suddenly leaned in a little closer to him, no doubt on the pretence of wanting to seek more physical contact with her 'boyfriend', until she was close enough to whisper in his ear: "Simon, it's going to be okay; this is just something they do with all my boyfriends. They can be a little over-protective, and they got worse after my most recent relationships ended pretty badly…" Izzy paused for a moment, looking like she was lost in not-so-happy memories of her former relationships, before she continued: "They'll lay off a little when they work out that you're not going to do anything to hurt me…"

Simon was about to make some sort of joke about asking the two of them to lay off her fake boyfriend, but Izzy still looked a little unsettled at the mention of her previous relationships, so he couldn't bring himself to do it. Simon wondered how much worse Alec and Jace would get in a couple of weeks when they found out that Izzy and Simon had 'broken up'. Simon was sure that he would get all the blame for the breakup, no matter how much Izzy tried to make him look like the innocent party.

A waiter arrived at the table pretty quickly to take their order. He seemed to throw an appreciative glance in Izzy's direction as they all ordered their food, and Simon felt a weird flicker of anger, or maybe it was jealousy, even though he knew he had no right to feel that way.

After they had placed their food order, a few general conversations started all around the table. Simon heard Magnus talk to Maryse about an upcoming event at one of his clubs, and Luke and Jace shared a conversation about their work, while Clary and Izzy talked about a costume party they'd been to recently. Simon couldn't help feeling a little out of his depth. He wasn't sure that his in-depth knowledge of _Star Wars_ would get him very far at this table. He also felt tense, expecting someone to ask him a load of probing questions about his relationship with Izzy at any moment.

After a couple minutes, Clary started to show Izzy and Simon photos of her and Jace on a recent vacation they'd taken in Paris.

Izzy seemed really enthusiastic about all of the photos, especially a photo of Jace and Clary standing in front of the Eiffel Tower with their arms around one another, looking into each other's eyes.

"That picture's so romantic!" Izzy told her friend, looking so happy on her behalf.

Izzy asked to see the photos up close, and then Clary and Jace's phones ended up getting passed around the table so everyone else could see the Paris photos. Simon noticed that Jace had made the Eiffel Tower photo his background picture on his phone's main screen. He wondered if Jace was secretly a romantic after all.

Izzy leaned forward a little in her seat as Jace and Clary shared stories about their time in Paris, and also when Alec and Magnus started talking about their recent date night at a fancy restaurant in Brooklyn, and Simon could see that Izzy wasn't just showing polite interest; she really was invested in Clary and Jace's and Magnus and Alec's love stories.

Magnus and Alec were the next couple to start showing the recent photos on their phones.

"Look at these pictures!" Izzy said to Simon, when she finally had Magnus's phone in her hand; there were pictures of Madzie with Magnus and Alec at the park, and a picture of Madzie eating ice cream, and a picture of Magnus and Madzie leaning against the outside wall of Magnus and Alec's apartment, posing for a photo, and then a video that Magnus must have taken of Madzie running up to Alec with a smile on her face while Alec lay down on the couch.

Simon realised that Izzy hadn't been joking when she'd told him that everybody liked to share photos at family dinners.

"Madzie, you look adorable!" Izzy told the little girl with a smile.

Madzie smiled back at her, looking embarrassed but happy that she was the current focus of the conversation.

Simon half-expected Izzy to show everyone the photo that they'd taken in front of the mural, but Izzy seemed to have forgot about it.

It was only when Luke leaned towards Maryse and muttered, "You look beautiful tonight," that Izzy suddenly seemed to remember the picture.

"Look at this!" Izzy announced to the whole table, interrupting Maryse and Luke's exchange as she held up her phone, with the picture that she'd taken with Simon in front of the mural now in full view to everybody at the table.

Maryse rolled her eyes at the interruption, but she didn't say anything.

Clary was the first to realise that Izzy was holding up a picture of herself with Simon.

She held her hand over her heart as she took the phone from Izzy to get a better look at the photo. "You two look so perfect together," said Clary, which caused Simon to feel yet another uncomfortable twinge of guilt.

Simon was kind of grateful when a couple of waiters brought the appetizers over to the table, effectively providing everyone with a distraction. He was safe…for now. The photo seemed to have stood up to the Lightwoods' scrutiny, but he knew it would only be a matter of time before someone decided to start asking questions about his relationship with Izzy.

As they all ate their appetizers, the focus of the conversation turned to Max as he told them all about his time in LA.

Izzy smiled at her little brother as he talked about his new school and how much he liked his classes, but up close, Simon could see the pained look in Izzy's eyes, just behind the smile.

Simon didn't really know what to do, but when Izzy looked back in his direction, he held out his hand underneath the tablecloth, silently letting Izzy know that he was here, and letting her know that he could offer her some sort of comfort, if she wanted to accept his open hand.

After staring at Simon's hand for a few moments, Izzy reached out and took it, so that they were now holding hands under the table. Again, Simon tried not to think about how good it felt to be sharing this gesture with Isabelle Lightwood.

"I got an A in my science project!" Madzie announced to the table as soon as Max had finished speaking. It seemed that she was now feeling brave enough to talk to everyone.

"Good job, Madzie!" Alec told her with a smile on his face, looking every inch the proud parent.

Maryse must have somehow worked out that Simon and Izzy were holding hands under the table, because the moment she finished eating, she turned her attention away from Madzie and instead seemed to look in the direction of Simon and Izzy's joined hands.

"So, Simon," she said with an intrigued-looking expression on her face, "tell me, how did you and Isabelle get together?"

Simon had to fight off an embarrassed flush at the question. He and Izzy had kind of discussed possible answers to this kind of question in the few messages they had exchanged in the run up to the family dinner (or, more accurately, Simon had sent Izzy a load of panicked messages and Izzy had offered a few replies), but Simon was still feeling nervous now that he'd been put on the spot, especially as the whole table had suddenly gone quiet and everybody was now looking in his direction. It seemed that they were just as intrigued as Maryse was. Anyway, Izzy had kind of left it to him to come up with an answer, as she'd told Simon that he'd be better at coming up with a romantic story. Simon had found that a little weird, because he was sure that Izzy had more experience than him with the whole romance thing, but he'd been too nervous about the whole evening to argue.

Simon chanced a glance at Izzy, and he noticed that she looked tense again. She even squeezed his hand a little tighter, like she was trying to seek some sort of reassurance, before she reached over for her glass of wine with her other hand and took a long sip of her drink, and Simon knew that he was going to have to take the lead with this.

"Okay, so," he began, trying to sound confident, "I'd had a crush on Izzy from the moment I met her, but I wasn't sure she felt the same way. So I tried to drop hints…I dedicated a few songs to her at my gigs, and I tried a few romantic gestures, like sending flowers to her apartment, and sending her a Valentine's Day card…"

Simon expected everyone to start laughing him at this point, but the women at least seemed to be leaning forward to hear more, so Simon decided to just keep going; he was almost convincing himself…

"Anyway, I finally confessed my feelings to Izzy one evening while we were walking through the park together…" Simon had always liked walking through the park with Izzy, and he knew that if he'd ever had the opportunity to confess his feelings to her for real, the park would have been the perfect setting. "It was so romantic, at twilight, with the rain falling gently on the lake, and I was so happy when Izzy told me she felt the same way…"

Simon started to blush again. He wondered if he was getting a little too close to reality now; if his true feelings were becoming a little more obvious to Izzy as he told this fake story.

Izzy had let go of Simon's hand, but she turned to watch him with an intense expression on her face.

"And then what happened?" Clary asked him, looking like she was desperate to know.

"Uh…" Simon mumbled, trying to think fast, "and then we went on our first date…at…at a fancy restaurant in Brooklyn. I showed up at Izzy's door with flowers…I really wanted the night to be perfect. And then we headed to the restaurant together; it was really romantic, with candles on the table, and a band playing songs. And, after dinner, we slow-danced to a love song, and it all felt so real…uh, I mean, it all felt so right..."

Simon wondered if he'd maybe taken the story a little too far, or made it seem a little unbelievable, but Maryse and Clary exchanged a smile as Simon got to the end of his story. It seemed that they'd not only bought it, but they were also totally impressed by Simon's fake romantic skills. Although, Simon wondered how fake his idea of romance actually was; he'd happily do all that stuff for real, in some alternate universe where Izzy actually had feelings for him.

"Why don't _you_ bring flowers?" Clary suddenly asked Jace with a raised eyebrow as she turned to look at him, before she winked at Izzy and Simon, letting them know that she was just joking around with her boyfriend.

"Yeah, Jace," Simon couldn't help joining in, trying his best to fight off a grin, "why don't _you_ bring flowers?" He made a big show of raising an eyebrow and throwing a pointed look in Jace's direction.

As the waiters arrived with their main course, Jace waited for Clary to turn away from him before he glared at Simon and pointed right at him, mouthing what sounded like a few words of warning as he shook his head.

Simon couldn't help smiling as Jace continued to glare at him. Simon was happy just to be spending some time with Izzy tonight, but if he got to annoy Jace in the process, well, that was an added bonus.

Simon saw that Izzy seemed to take several more sips from her glass of wine before she started eating.

The food was delicious, and Simon was glad that the focus shifted away from him again as a few other conversations got started.

Clary, Jace, Magnus and Alec talked about a double date they'd been on a couple weeks ago at this same restaurant.

Izzy asked Madzie and Max a few more questions about school and their friends, smiling as they both answered her questions.

Luke and Maryse were focused on each other again. "I missed you this week," Simon could just about hear Luke mumble to Izzy's mom, looking uncharacteristically embarrassed as he leaned in closer to her, "when I had to work extra hours-"

"Simon!" Izzy suddenly exclaimed in a voice that carried all the way around the table and effectively cut off Luke and Maryse's conversation, "when you were working out at the gym on Tuesday night, it was _so_ sexy!"

Simon couldn't help blushing at these words, especially when Izzy smiled at him. The fact that someone like Izzy was saying something like that to him…well, it was kind of making him feel more than a little flustered.

"T-thank you," he replied, unable to help the pleased grin that spread all over his face, even as Jace rolled his eyes at him. He was totally flattered by what Izzy had just said. Izzy had been at the gym at the same time as Simon and Jace on Tuesday evening, and Simon had kind of felt like she'd been watching the two of them training, but he hadn't realised that she'd thought he looked 'sexy'. No woman had _ever_ told him that he looked sexy.

"Yeah, it really wasn't," Jace cut in with another scowl.

Jace's sarcastic words brought Simon back down to earth a little. He felt a wave of disappointment crash over him as he reminded himself that Izzy hadn't meant it; this was all part of the fake-boyfriend-and-girlfriend act. Of course she had to pretend to find him attractive.

"Especially when you took your shirt off!" Izzy continued after a long sip of wine. Apparently she wasn't going to be deterred by Jace.

Simon had to fight off another blush.

"Not even then," Jace added, unhelpfully.

Maryse's glare in Jace's direction stopped him from saying anything else. Izzy's mom didn't seem to approve of this topic of conversation, if the way she continued to glare at Izzy and Jace was anything to go by. Or maybe she was just angry that Izzy had ruined another nice moment between her and Luke. Simon was definitely starting to notice a pattern in the timing of Izzy's interruptions.

Magnus tactfully managed to steer the conversation to more neutral topics of gyms and workout routines, and that conversation kept the table going for the next few minutes.

Madzie and Max looked bored with the adults' conversation now. They had already finished eating, and Madzie was showing Max her latest colouring book. It wasn't long before the two of them were colouring in the pictures together.

Maryse and Luke also seemed to quickly zone out of the conversation about gyms and working out, especially when Simon and Jace started bickering about who out of the two of them could lift the heaviest weights at their gym. Luke and Maryse moved in closer to one another again, and it looked as though Luke was about to kiss Maryse on the lips when…

"Simon's in a band!" Izzy announced pretty loudly, making a waitress who was passing by their table jump in shock.

Maryse and Luke sprang apart, and Luke definitely looked disappointed at not getting a kiss.

Even Magnus and Clary looked a little surprised this time by Izzy's abrupt interruption.

Simon however totally understood what was going on...

Izzy wasn't happy about the fact that her mom was in a new relationship so soon after her separation from Izzy's dad. Simon had kind of suspected this from the moment he arrived at the restaurant, but now it was glaringly obvious. Simon wasn't sure what he could do to help this situation; he wasn't even sure if it was his place to try to speak to Izzy about it.

"We kind of worked that out already, Isabelle," Maryse told her, looking like she was talking around a forced smile and gritted teeth, "after Simon mentioned his gigs and his songs in his story about how the two of you got together…"

Simon tried to make some sort of apologetic gesture on Izzy's behalf, but it didn't seem like anyone was paying attention to him.

"Simon's so talented," Clary suddenly jumped into the conversation, apparently oblivious to the tense exchange between Izzy and her mom. She turned and grinned at Simon, giving him her usual I-got-your-back look.

Simon grinned back at her, silently letting her know that he was thankful for the support, but he wasn't really sure if this was what Maryse and Luke wanted to hear right now.

"Right, Jace?" Clary prompted her boyfriend with a pointed look and a raised eyebrow, apparently looking for back up in this discussion.

"Yeah," said Jace, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "Simon's pretty special…"

"Ah, Jace," said Simon, unable to resist a little mockery as he pretended to grin bashfully while he batted his eyelids, "you think I'm pretty?"

Jace started furiously mouthing a few not-so-pretty words at Simon before Luke jumped into the conversation. "So, you guys are still playing a load of gigs in Brooklyn?" Luke asked Simon, loud enough to cut off any further sarcastic comments from Jace.

Luke had always been supportive of the band, and he looked genuinely interested to hear about how all the band members were doing.

Simon started to talk about a few of the band's most recent and upcoming gigs, while Izzy put an arm around his shoulders, looking every inch the supportive girlfriend. Simon mentioned a few of the bars and coffee shops where he'd played his latest gigs, and he mentioned a twenty-first birthday party he'd played at not so long ago, and then he mentioned an upcoming wedding that the band members were putting in extra rehearsals for.

"You guys play at weddings?" Luke asked him, looking genuinely curious. "I didn't know that."

Even Maryse seemed interested in this piece of information.

Simon nodded in confirmation, and he talked a little about some of the weddings the band had played at over the past few years.

"Well, maybe one day you guys could play at our-" Luke suddenly stopped and went quiet, the embarrassed look on his face suggesting that he'd said too much.

Maryse looked a little flushed, too, but she was also looking at Luke almost with an expression of wonder on her face.

"Mom isn't divorced yet."

At Izzy's words, almost everyone at the table turned to look at her with uncomfortable expressions on their faces.

Even Simon couldn't help squirming a little in embarrassment. He wondered if he should maybe try to talk to Izzy in private before this situation escalated into an argument between Izzy and her mom, but he didn't know if she would listen to him. He also didn't know if he would be overstepping the fake boyfriend boundaries, if he tried to talk to Izzy about this sort of stuff.

Maryse threw a warning glare in her daughter's direction, and Simon sensed that some kind of argument between mother and daughter was definitely going to break out by the end of the night.

For her part, Izzy looked a little shocked at what she'd just said. Simon saw her place her hand over her mouth, like she couldn't believe that she'd just said those words out loud.

It was kind of lucky that a bottle of champagne that Luke had ordered a little earlier arrived at the table at that moment.

Luke and Maryse made a big deal of finding glasses for all the adults at the table, while Magnus praised Luke's choice of champagne.

Simon could tell that they were all desperately searching for a distraction.

As the glasses of champagne were poured, Simon chanced a glance at Izzy.

She was looking from her mom and Luke to the other couples at the table, and then at Max. She looked so lost, so helpless. She might have been on a fake date with Simon, but it was like she was only just seeing the reality of the situation in front of her.

"A toast," Luke declared, raising his glass of champagne, and gesturing for everyone to do the same.

Simon could tell that Luke had been meaning to give this toast all evening, but he no longer looked as happy or as relaxed as he'd looked at the start of the evening.

"To family," said Luke, as everyone raised their glasses, "and new beginnings," he added, with a glance at Maryse, who smiled back at him.

"And," Maryse added, with another meaningful glance at Luke, "to the man who has made me happier than I ever thought possible-"

Whatever else Maryse might have said was abruptly cut off by the sound of glass shattering.

As Maryse let out a gasp of shock, Simon jumped, and then he looked over at Izzy in time to see that it was _her_ glass that had shattered…no, Izzy had made it shatter, because she'd been holding it so tight. A few pieces of glass had fallen to the floor, while a couple of other pieces had fallen onto the table. The champagne had also shot out of the glass, soaking Izzy's arm, and her shirt. Simon was even sure that he caught sight of blood on her hand. Izzy barely even seemed to notice.

Most of the people at the table were looking at Izzy in wide-eyed horror, especially Madzie, who looked terrified. The only exception was Max, who was watching Izzy with wide-eyes and an impressed-looking grin on his face. He probably thought it was cool, that his older sister had managed to break a glass like that. He was maybe too young to understand that the glass had been broken by a lot of hurt, anger and pain.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Izzy demanded as she looked in Maryse and Luke's direction, still holding the remains of the shattered glass in her hand. Her expression wasn't angry; in fact, her eyes looked like they were a million miles away, but her sharp tone of voice was enough to give her feelings away. "You don't think this is a little weird for us? You don't think this is a little weird for Jace and Clary?"

"Izzy, it's okay," Simon heard Clary tell Izzy, sounding like she was desperately trying to put on a soothing tone of voice, "we're okay…"

Jace nodded in agreement as Clary spoke, but it seemed that this was not enough to stop Izzy now that she had got started…

"And now we're all supposed to just sit here and accept this new romance between the two of you? You always said that you and Luke were rivals. I haven't seen Max for _weeks_ , and Dad never calls anymore, and I'm meant to just raise my glass and be happy about it?"

With that, Izzy slammed what was left of her broken glass on the table, pushed her chair back so fast that it could be heard loudly scraping against the floor, got up out of her seat and stormed away in the direction of the restrooms.

* * *

A very tense silence followed Izzy's departure.

Maryse looked angry, while Luke looked a little hurt.

Jace and Alec seemed to be engaged in another one of their silent, telepathic conversations, although this time their expressions looked more concerned than annoyed.

Clary and Magnus also exchanged a worried-looking glance, before Madzie ran over to Magnus, looking upset.

"Is Izzy okay?" Simon heard Madzie whisper in Magnus's ear.

Magnus seemed to be struggling to give Madzie an answer.

 _Well, this is awkward…_ Simon thought to himself.

Luke glanced at Maryse, the look on his face suggesting that he expected her to go after her daughter, but Simon could tell that right now, Maryse was too angry to go speak to her. The Lightwoods had always had high standards for the kind of behaviour that was expected of them in public, and Simon could tell that Maryse thought that Izzy had crossed a line.

Anyway, it seemed like everyone else was a little scared to go after Izzy.

Simon knew that as Izzy's 'boyfriend' (in the eyes of the Lightwood family, anyway) that duty would probably fall to him.

"Excuse me," Simon heard himself say out loud as he tried to stand up gracefully and sound like a responsible, sensible boyfriend.

He walked away from the table and headed in the direction of the restroom, tripping over his feet a little as he went, and breaking out into a run the moment he was out of sight of the Lightwoods.

* * *

There was a small side room located next to the restrooms, its door standing ajar, and, when Simon caught a glimpse of Izzy's reflection in the room's large mirror as he walked past the half-open door, he realised that Izzy was in there.

Feeling a little nervous, he knocked gently on the door, before he stepped inside.

His eyes widened in shock when he realised that Izzy had lifted up her shirt a little to try to wipe away the marks left by the champagne, meaning that quite a lot of her torso was on display.

"I-I'm sorry," Simon stuttered, the moment Izzy looked up and caught sight of Simon in the mirror. Simon felt himself go red at the realisation that he'd walked in on Izzy in this private moment.

As he held up a hand to try to cover his eyes, he made a hasty move to back out of the room, practically crashing into the door on the way, but Izzy held up a hand to stop him.

"Simon, it's okay," she told him, quickly readjusting her shirt and sounding a lot calmer than she had sounded a couple minutes ago, "you can come in."

As Simon stepped further into the room, he noticed that there was a first aid kit standing on one of the tables in the room. No doubt a 'helpful' waiter had rushed to Izzy's aid like a knight in shining armour when he'd spotted her storming away from the table and showed her into this room and brought out this first aid kit for her. Simon didn't even know why he was feeling so insecure at the idea of this hypothetical guy. What chance would he have anyway, if he was pitted against a handsome, well-built waiter?

Another glance at Izzy's hand revealed that she had wrapped it messily in tissue, but the blood was still visible through the white tissue. It seemed that Izzy had prioritised removing the champagne from her designer shirt instead of doing something more practical to treat her injured hand.

"You're hurt," Simon couldn't help saying, even though he knew it was a pretty obvious observation.

Slowly, he took a step closer to Izzy. He'd always had this instinct, to play the hero, to come to the rescue…sometimes to his own detriment.

"C-can I see?" he asked Izzy as he gestured to her hand. He wanted to help, but he didn't want to overstep any boundaries.

Izzy nodded, and she held up her shaking hand so he could inspect it.

"I can help," Simon stated after he'd inspected Izzy's hand. He went on to explain that he'd completed first aid training not long after his band had started to get regular gigs at bars and clubs; it had always been a useful skill to have, as a surprising number of fights and other accidents seemed to happen late at night.

And so Simon ended up cleaning and then bandaging Izzy's hand, using the supplies from the first aid kit and trying his best to be really gentle. He would have thought that this would mark some great moment of trust on Izzy's part that she was letting him do this, but Izzy barely even seemed to be aware of his presence. Every now and again, she glanced at her own reflection in the mirror, looking like she was deep in thought, and like she was a little confused by the person she saw looking back at her; a person with a bleeding hand who was covered in champagne.

It was only when a single tear started to fall slowly down Izzy's cheek that she seemed to become more aware of her surroundings.

"Did I hurt you?" Simon asked when he saw that she was crying. He already felt guilty, and there was an apology on the tip of his tongue.

Izzy shook her head. "I know that you would never do anything to hurt me, Simon," she told him, her words and her expression sounding so trusting, so sincere as she looked right into Simon's eyes.

Simon felt like he had goose bumps at her words. He wasn't sure why these words meant so much to him, but they did, when Izzy said them.

A couple more tears fell down Izzy's cheeks, and Simon couldn't help thinking about how beautiful Izzy was, even when she cried, but then he felt a little guilty about thinking that when she was obviously distressed.

Another realisation also hit him; Izzy wasn't crying because her hand was hurt, or because she'd spilled champagne on her expensive clothes. Her pain ran a lot deeper than that. She was crying over not seeing her little brother much, and not hearing from her dad, and maybe also because she felt a little guilty about her behaviour just now.

"Hey, it's okay," Simon said automatically, his tone of voice soft and gentle and sounding more affectionate than he would have liked.

His words had the unfortunate effect of making Izzy cry even harder.

Simon felt a little at a loss as to what he should do. He'd never really seen Izzy like this…so upset, so vulnerable. Usually, Simon was the sensitive one, while Izzy was the life and soul of the party, always running rings around people like him.

Before he could think about it, Simon held his arms out to Izzy, but then he felt a little embarrassed, because he doubted that Izzy wanted any comfort or affection from her fake boyfriend right now.

But, to his surprise, Izzy stepped closer to him, allowing him to wrap his arms around her.

"Izzy," Simon whispered against her hair. He'd never been good at deep, profound speeches, but he'd been in this dark, emotional place himself, and he felt like she should say something. "I've been here before," he continued, "when there were new people in my mom's life, after my dad…Anyway, I…I know it hurts, but pushing everything deep down inside and then getting angry like that…it doesn't work. It never works. It will get better, I promise, and your family will be there for you, if you need to talk. And, uh…you know I'll be there, too, if you want that…"

Simon expected Izzy to get angry at him for what he was saying, but she simply nodded.

Simon held Izzy for a little while as she cried, trying not to think about how right it felt to be this close to Izzy. He kind of felt privileged, that he got to see Izzy like this, open and vulnerable and unguarded; he felt privileged that she was allowing him to see this side of her; he was sure that not many guys got to see her with her defences down.

Over Izzy's shoulder, Simon caught sight of Alec Lightwood standing in the doorway. Simon got the impression that Alec was usually the one to go after his sister when she was angry or upset.

Something about the sight of Simon holding Izzy however seemed to stop Alec in his tracks.

He looked at Simon for a few moments, and then, with a tense, serious expression on his face, he nodded at Simon before he started to back out of the room.

There was some sort of weird, silent understanding that passed between the two of them in that moment. It was like Alec was allowing Simon to do this; it was like he was letting Simon know that he was trusting him to help his sister get through this situation.

"Simon, I'm ruining your shirt," Izzy mumbled into the fabric of Simon's shirt the moment Alec had gone. She sounded a little apologetic.

"You can ruin all of my shirts…" Simon heard himself saying out loud before his brain-to-mouth function could kick into gear.

To his relief, Izzy seemed amused by this comment. He heard and felt her laughter as she hugged him a little tighter.

A few minutes later, Izzy seemed to have calmed down a little. She moved away from Simon and inspected her shirt a couple of times as though confirming that she'd managed to remove the worst of the staining from the champagne.

"Are you ready to go back in there?" Simon asked her a little tentatively.

Izzy tensed for a moment, but eventually she nodded. "I should apologise to everyone," she told Simon before she glanced at her reflection one more time in the mirror.

Eventually, Izzy took a step towards the door before she suddenly stopped and turned back around to face Simon.

"You would really do all that romantic stuff for your girlfriend? All that stuff you were talking about earlier?" she asked him, her facial expression a mixture of curiosity, wonder and doubt.

"Yeah," Simon confirmed with a nod, causing what could only be described as a look of fascination to cross Izzy's face. He wondered if any of Izzy's exes had ever done anything romantic for her. "And you deserve a guy who'll do all that stuff and more for you, Izzy," Simon added, just in case no other guy had told her any of this before.

The affectionate smile that Izzy gave him in response made Simon blush again, and it almost made him go weak at the knees.

After placing another quick kiss to Simon's cheek, Izzy suddenly lifted her head and squared her shoulders.

"Okay, let's do this," she said, in what was a pretty good impression of Simon whenever he was using similar phrases.

Izzy's bravery seemed to waver however, as she hesitated when she got to the door.

"Hey, I'll be right beside you the whole time," Simon told her.

"You promise?" Izzy asked him, with a fond expression on her face.

"I promise," said Simon.

As Simon started to follow Izzy back to the table, he couldn't help feeling, or maybe hoping, that they had just made some kind of meaningful promise to one another.


	3. Chapter 3

Simon followed Izzy back to the table.

It seemed that the waiters and waitresses had cleared away the remains of the broken glass and the spilled drink from the table in Simon and Izzy's absence.

Everyone was talking in low voices as Simon and Izzy approached, but the conversation quickly seemed to die down into an awkward silence the moment everyone saw Izzy.

Simon saw Izzy look at Madzie, who was still standing close to Magnus and looking a little upset, while Magnus was whispering soothing words into his daughter's ear. "It's okay, Sweet Pea," Simon heard him tell Madzie.

An expression of both guilt and regret seemed to cross Izzy's face as she heard these words.

Slowly and gracefully, Izzy sat back down in her seat.

Simon sat down next to Izzy, trying to look like a supportive boyfriend. He still wasn't sure exactly how he should be acting right now. He'd originally thought that he'd agreed to be Izzy's fake boyfriend at what was going to be a pretty regular family dinner (as far as any kind of dinner with the Lightwoods could be counted as regular, anyway), but he definitely hadn't signed up for any of this! Again, he felt out of his depth.

Everyone seemed to be trying to act like they _weren't_ looking at Izzy, but Simon noticed that most people at the table kept shooting furtive glances in her direction.

Maybe it was the sight of Madzie looking so worried that finally pushed Izzy to act. Whatever it was, the moment she sat down, Izzy immediately opened her mouth to speak: "Mom, Luke," she said slowly, "I want to apologise for my behaviour just now…"

At these words, all three of the Lightwood brothers-Alec, Jace and Max-seemed unable to stop themselves from widening their eyes and practically gaping at Izzy, before they looked at each other, their faces a mixture of shock and confusion.

Simon guessed that Izzy didn't often apologise for her actions. Or maybe apologising and admitting to being in the wrong just wasn't a Lightwood thing.

"This is all very new," Izzy continued, "with the separation, and Max being in LA, and dealing with a recent break up of my own…but still, it was no excuse for me to take it out on you the way I did, and…I'm sorry…"

A silence that probably only lasted a couple seconds but seemed to last a lot longer followed Izzy's words.

Finally, Luke was the one to break the silence first: "Izzy, it's okay," he told her, his tone of voice kind, sympathetic. "I get that this isn't easy, and I'm sorry if we made you uncomfortable."

Izzy nodded, silently accepting his apology. Quickly, she glanced in her mom's direction, and for a moment, she looked like a child who was longing for her mother's approval.

"Thank you for apologising," Maryse said simply.

Simon wasn't sure if Maryse had said too little, but Izzy nodded at her mother, and Simon accepted that Izzy was going to take what she could get from her mom in light of her recent behaviour.

Clary leaned over and took Izzy's hand in hers, and it seemed like this was more of the kind of comfort that Izzy needed right now, rather than more words from Maryse and Luke. She seemed to be holding Clary's hand pretty tight.

Alec and Jace seemed to have returned to another one of their silent conversations. They nodded in Simon's direction a couple times before Jace shrugged at Alec. " _Maybe…_ " Simon saw Alec mouth to Jace, and he couldn't help wondering if they were somehow giving _him_ the credit for Izzy's decision to apologise.

A few waiters and waitresses arrived at their table at that moment, interrupting what was shaping up to be another awkward silence. They were all carrying various desserts. Simon worked out that everyone must have placed their dessert order while Izzy and Simon had been away from the table. He wondered if anyone had thought to order anything for him and Izzy…

"I ordered you your favourite dessert," Maryse said to her daughter as some kind of large ice cream was placed in front of Izzy.

Simon thought it was kind of sweet, that Izzy, who always seemed to hang out at the most sophisticated bars and restaurants, would like something as unsophisticated as a load of ice cream topped with chocolate sauce for dessert.

"Thank you," Izzy said to her mom in a low voice, and Simon guessed that this gesture was meant to be some kind of peace offering on Maryse's part.

To Simon's surprise, _his_ favourite dessert was also placed in front of him.

"I ordered you your favourite dessert, too," he heard Jace mumble to him with his head down. He looked a little embarrassed at this admission.

This only served to increase Simon's sense of surprise. Sure, he always talked to anyone who would listen about all the stuff he liked-his favourite movies and books and TV shows, and of course his favourite food and drink-but he'd never for a second thought that Jace had actually listened to anything he said when they were hanging out together.

"Ah, Jace, you _do_ care!" Simon couldn't help saying in a falsely high-pitched tone of voice as he made a big show of placing his hand over his heart before he wiped away a pretend tear from his cheek.

At Simon's mocking words, Madzie and Max looked at each other and started to giggle. It wasn't long before the adults at the table joined in with a mix of smiles and laughter. Even Jace managed a smile.

The laughter seemed to lighten some of the tension that had been hanging in the air over the table since Izzy's outburst.

Soon, Madzie went to sit next to Max again, and everyone was distracted with eating their desserts.

"Simon, try some of this," said Izzy, offering Simon a spoonful of her dessert after she'd eaten a few spoonfuls herself.

Simon tried not to blush as Izzy held out her spoon for him.

"Wow," said Max as he looked over at Simon, "Izzy must really like you; she never shares dessert with anyone…"

Simon felt embarrassed all over again by Max's words. He was flattered, he guessed, but he also felt something else, too-maybe he was feeling disappointed again that he wasn't really Izzy's boyfriend. It didn't help that almost everybody at the table was looking at them again, now that Max had drawn attention to the two of them.

Izzy also looked uncharacteristically embarrassed, too.

"You'll never guess who Lorenzo Rey was on a date with at my club last weekend…" Magnus suddenly jumped into the conversation.

Everyone seemed eager to hear this latest gossip, and suddenly, all the focus was on Magnus.

As Simon heard the name 'Andrew' mentioned a couple times, along with a few surprised-sounding reactions from the Lightwoods, and Izzy seemed to nod at Magnus with a grateful expression on her face, Simon worked out that Magnus had deliberately got the focus off Izzy in order to help his best friend out and ease her embarrassment, especially as Simon had already heard that Lorenzo was one of Magnus Bane's professional rivals, and he therefore probably wasn't overly eager to talk about him.

Simon continued to eat his dessert, allowing Izzy to feed him a few more spoonfuls of hers along the way. They were soon joined by Madzie and Max, who had finished eating first and now seemed to want to talk to some of the adults.

Madzie leaned into Simon as she showed him a couple of the pictures in her colouring book and she talked in a quiet voice about a few of the fun places she'd gone to with her dads over the past few weekends, while Max seemed to be leaning into his sister as he showed her more photos on his phone.

A few people at the table seemed to be looking at the four of them like the scene they were seeing was totally adorable. Clary even placed her hand over her heart as she watched Simon and Izzy with Madzie and Max.

* * *

When they'd all finished eating their desserts, Luke announced that he was going to head to the bar to order coffee and a couple of other drinks.

"I'll go with you," Izzy told him as she got up out of her seat.

Luke looked a little surprised by Izzy's offer to go with him, but he didn't say anything.

Simon was sure that Izzy wanted to talk a few things over with Luke in private, maybe apologise again for her behaviour tonight, a theory which was confirmed when he heard snatches of their conversation from over at the bar…

"I'm not trying to replace your dad," he heard Luke tell Izzy in a low voice.

"I know that," he heard Izzy reply. "I guess I overreacted a little."

"Izzy, it's okay," Luke interrupted her. "I know this hasn't been easy for you guys."

Simon wasn't sure what else was said, but both Izzy and Luke looked a little less tense when they returned to the table with the drinks. They even shared a conversation about an upcoming marathon in the city after they'd both sat back down, and they debated whether they should sign up to take part in it.

Not long after everyone had finished the last of their drinks and the bill had been taken care of, Clary and Jace and Magnus and Alec started to get ready to leave. Clary and Jace seemed to have plans to head somewhere else after the restaurant, and Simon supposed that they were eager to leave now so they could spend a little time together as a couple without having to deal with all the family drama all around them for the rest of the night. Magnus and Alec didn't want Madzie to stay up too late, and so they were talking about heading back to their apartment.

The two couples started to say their goodbyes to everyone.

Clary gave Izzy and Simon a hug and she mentioned a few more times that she thought they made a great couple, while Simon tried not to feel another uncomfortable twinge of guilt.

 _If only you knew_ …Simon thought to himself with a sigh as he hugged his best friend.

"I'll be watching you," Jace warned Simon after he'd said goodbye to everyone, his expression serious.

"Oh, I'm scared," Simon couldn't help responding, not even trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

Jace rolled his eyes as he started to head out the door, but Simon was also sure that he detected a hint of a smile on Jace's face as he left the restaurant with Clary.

Madzie hugged Simon after she'd put on her jacket, and Simon was surprised but also kind of happy when Alec gave him an almost friendly pat on the shoulder as he said his goodbyes. Simon guessed that this was probably about as affectionate as Alec would get with people he didn't really know well. Even Clary had joked with Simon recently that she was still waiting for the day when Alec was comfortable enough to hug her.

After he'd hugged Izzy, Magnus walked over to Simon, pulling him in for a hug.

"If you think that was bad," Magnus whispered in Simon's ear when he was close enough to Simon to not be overheard by the others, "you should have been at some of the family dinners when Alexander and I first got together…"

Magnus pulled back from the hug with a kind smile on his face, although there was still a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. He winked at Simon as he went to say goodbye to Maryse.

Simon nodded at him gratefully. It was a relief to know that these kinds of dramas had happened at family dinners before and that his presence alone hadn't been the cause of everything descending into chaos.

The Lightwood-Bane family started to head towards the door.

Izzy walked Magnus, Alec and Madzie to the door, and Maryse followed her. After the Lightwood-Banes had left, Izzy and her mom ended up standing in a far corner of the restaurant by the large windows, talking to each other in hushed voices, and Simon figured that Izzy's mom had been waiting for this opportunity to talk to Izzy after most of the others had left.

Trying to give the two of them a little privacy, Simon made conversation with Max and Luke, who were still sitting at the table with him.

Simon couldn't hear all of Izzy and Maryse's conversation, but one line in particular from Maryse stood out to him…

"Isabelle," he heard Maryse mutter, her voice sounding hesitant, like she was debating saying anything at all, "Robert had an affair…"

A look of pain crossed Izzy's face at hearing these words, but she didn't look overly surprised by this announcement, and a look of what was almost resignation quickly followed.

Simon got what Izzy's mom was trying to tell her by revealing the truth about Robert Lightwood's behaviour; she hadn't taken this separation lightly; she hadn't made the decision to leave her husband out of nowhere; Robert's actions had pushed her into making that painful decision.

Izzy nodded slowly, like she had absorbed and processed her mother's words.

The two women continued to talk for a little while longer, and then Simon heard Izzy tell her mom: "You deserve to be happy."

There was no big emotional moment that followed Izzy's declaration, but both Izzy and her mom looked calmer after they'd spoken to each other in private.

As Simon and Izzy were getting ready to leave the restaurant, Maryse told Izzy that she could borrow her red leather jacket, in case she got cold while Simon and Izzy were waiting for a cab, and Simon was sure that this was another subtle peace offering from Izzy's mom.

Simon helped Izzy put her jacket on. A few elderly couples who were about to leave the restaurant smiled at them as they passed, and Simon knew that they thought that this was a sweet moment between a young couple, but really, Simon was more concerned about Izzy's injured hand; he didn't want her to get hurt again.

Izzy suited the red jacket, but then, Simon kind of thought that Izzy looked good in anything. He tried not to let his eyes linger on her for too long. The family dinner was over now; he had done his duty. There was no point getting too attached, not when she was going to fake break up with him in the near future.

Izzy held on tight to Max for a couple minutes as she said her goodbyes. She looked like she didn't ever want to let him go. "Call me as soon as you get back to LA, okay?" Izzy whispered in her brother's ear, and Max nodded in agreement.

Izzy then made a point of hugging both her mom and Luke, and Simon hoped this meant that she was going to be more accepting of their new romance now. He also hoped that they would understand that Izzy was clearly going through a tough time and that they'd be patient with her, too.

After Simon had hugged Luke, Maryse walked over to him to say goodbye. "Thank you for taking care of my daughter," she whispered in Simon's ear, sounding a little emotional now. Simon tried not to feel too bad about the fact that he and Izzy were planning on staging a fake break up soon. He was sure that Maryse wouldn't be feeling so grateful to him when that happened.

* * *

Izzy held Simon's hand as they left the restaurant together, and Simon didn't know if the gesture was for show or if Izzy was seeking comfort.

When they were outside, the distant look reappeared on Izzy's face. It seemed like she was trying to process about a hundred thoughts at once.

"Uh…what do you say we take a walk before we catch a cab?" Simon suggested, wondering if Izzy would feel a little better if she could get some fresh air.

Izzy nodded in agreement.

* * *

They ended up walking through the local park. The two of them had walked through this same park together so many times, on their way home from the gym or after they'd got coffee together, and Simon always liked being here with Izzy.

Some kind of event must have recently taken place in the park, because there were a lot of people already walking up and down the park's paths, and Simon could hear the faint sound of music in the distance.

Izzy still seemed to be lost in thought.

Simon was sure that he was doing enough talking for the two of them, as he was babbling on about all the people around them and speculating about the music event that might have taken place here tonight. He was trying to avoid any awkward silences, but he wasn't sure if Izzy was even listening to him.

Suddenly, Izzy stopped, taking Simon by surprise. He'd already walked ahead a few paces, and so he had to take a few steps back to face her.

"Simon," she said slowly as he approached her, "I'm sorry you had to go through all that tonight. You were so sweet, agreeing to be my fake boyfriend, and taking care of me, but I shouldn't have put you through all my family drama…"

"Izzy, it's okay," Simon told her. He knew that she felt bad enough about tonight, and he didn't want to give her anything else to feel guilty about.

"It's not okay, but I really am sorry, Simon…and thank you," she added with a smile, before her smile faded and a darker expression crossed her face. "It's just…the past few months have kind of sucked, with my parents' separation, and then two break ups of my own in a year…Especially Raphael…we maybe didn't have the most conventional of relationships, but I thought what we had was real…I guess not…"

It seemed to be taking a great effort on Izzy's part to say all this stuff out loud, and Simon got the impression that she wasn't used to confiding in people about how she felt. He wondered if it was maybe a Lightwood thing.

"Hey, I'm here if you ever need someone to talk to," Simon offered, trying hard to push aside his feelings of jealousy at the closeness that Izzy and Raphael had obviously shared.

Simon was always the person who people confided in, and he wasn't sure if Izzy had talked to anyone else about the stuff that had been going on with her lately.

Since he'd met her, Simon had kind of seen Izzy as someone perfect, flawless; someone who barely even inhabited the same universe as mere mortals like him. But tonight, he'd realised that he'd kind of been wrong about Izzy. She had her worries and her insecurities and her vulnerabilities just like anyone else. And somehow, Simon loved her all the more for it.

Izzy smiled at him before she carried on walking, and Simon had to take a couple of fast steps to catch up with her.

He was just wondering if Izzy was now going to try to put the memory of their fake date far behind her when she stopped all over again and turned to face him.

"Simon," she muttered, looking even more hesitant this time, "there's something else…I wasn't totally honest with you about the reasons why I asked you to the family dinner…"

Simon felt a little uneasy at these words. Years of dealing with high school bullies had taught him to be suspicious. "Uh…" he said nervously, shifting nervously from one foot to the other, "this isn't all some elaborate prank, is it? Alec and Jace aren't hiding behind a tree or something, waiting to jump out at me…are they?"

Izzy gave him a strange look before a look of amusement crossed her face. "No, nothing like that," she told him with another smile as she shook her head.

Simon was just breathing a sigh of relief when Izzy's expression became serious again. "I knew the dinner tonight wouldn't be easy, and I always feel calmer when you're with me; maybe it was a little selfish, but I knew tonight would be more bearable with you next to me…"

"Izzy, that's okay," Simon told her. He'd been told before by women that he had a calming influence on them. He guessed that wasn't a bad thing, was it? He'd kind of prefer to be told that he had an oh-wow-he's-so-attractive-I-can-barely-concentrate influence, but he also knew that this was the real world, and he would have to take whatever compliments he could get.

"But it's more than that," Izzy continued, her voice even quieter now. She looked apologetic, guilty, almost. "I've kind of had a crush on you since I first met you, and I wanted to experience what it would feel like to be your girlfriend, even if I only got to pretend for one night…"

Simon felt like he'd frozen to the spot. His mouth opened in shock as he widened his eyes. Was this really happening? Had Izzy just said what he thought she'd said?

"Wait, what?" he asked, with his typical lack of eloquence. " _You_ have a crush on _me_?"

Simon fully expected Izzy to backtrack or deny it, but she nodded, still looking embarrassed.

"W-why didn't you just say something?" Simon asked her, a part of him still believing that this really was some kind of prank set up by Jace. There was no way it could be true, could it? Had life ever been that kind to him before? Why would someone like Izzy have a crush on someone like him?

"I wanted to tell you," said Izzy, "but there was never a right time," she sighed. "When I first met you, I thought that you were dating Clary. Then, when I figured out that you and Clary were just friends and Clary started dating Jace, you were already dating Maia. Then I was dating Meliorn, and, when you and Maia broke up, I was already dating Raphael…"

Simon continued to gape at Izzy. Had it really just been a simple case of bad timing that had stopped Izzy from admitting her feelings? Were her feelings actually real?

He'd kind of suspected that there was something else that Izzy had been keeping from him tonight, but he'd just assumed that she'd been hiding some family secret. He'd never for a second imagined that _this_ was her secret.

"I'm sorry," Izzy said again. "I should have been more honest with you about why I wanted you there tonight…" she looked up at Simon, her expression a little sheepish.

"Izzy," said Simon, finding his voice a little now, even though he was still in a state of shock. His nerves were starting to kick in now, but he really didn't want to let this conversation go, not if there was some hope that the two of them were on the same page. "You know I would've said yes, right? If you'd asked me to go to the dinner as your real date?"

"You would?" Izzy asked him, sounding surprised, and a little doubtful.

"Of course I would," said Simon, without hesitation. "Izzy," he started to confess, glad that it was a little too dark for Izzy to see him blushing, "when I first met you, I could barely talk to you, I had such a big crush on you, and you know how much I love to talk…"

Izzy managed a smile at those words.

"Who wouldn't want to be your boyfriend?" Simon continued. "If your exes couldn't see what a great person you are, then that's their problem, not yours. You're amazing, Izzy. You're-"

Simon was cut off when Izzy took a step closer to him, put her arms around him and kissed him.

Simon gasped in shock at first-he definitely hadn't been expecting to kiss Izzy tonight, or ever-but the feeling of her lips on his felt so good that it wasn't long before he was kissing her back.

Their kiss soon got faster, and it became more heated. Simon put his arms around Izzy's waist, holding her close. She also seemed to be trying to pull him in even closer.

For years, Simon had always secretly believed that time-stopping, earth-shattering, life-changing kisses were simply a thing of stories that were written in books or acted out on TV shows, but this kiss with Izzy was proving all his long-standing beliefs wrong. The world and the people and the music all around them seemed to fade. Everything started to look a little blurry. The stars looked like white flashes of light that were dancing around rapidly in the sky. Only Izzy was in perfect focus. Simon was only aware of the feeling of her lips on his, and her hand running gently through his hair. He wanted to laugh, to cry; he wanted to kiss Isabelle Lightwood forever.

What could have been minutes or hours later, Izzy pulled back a little from the kiss. She stayed close to Simon, and the two of them stood staring into each other's eyes as time seemed to stand still.

Simon knew that he was grinning like an idiot, but he couldn't help it. The moment was perfect, and he felt so happy. The park suddenly looked like the most beautiful place on Earth. Even the moon seemed to be shining brighter in the sky.

"Wow," Izzy whispered against Simon's lips, looking a little amused as she echoed Simon's word to her from earlier when she'd showed up at his door, which made Simon blush again. Secretly though, he felt kind of happy with himself.

"Okay, so, new suggestion," Simon finally managed to get out. He really had to refrain from jumping up and down in excitement, the way he always reacted to particularly epic scenes on his favourite TV shows. "What if we don't tell anyone that we were on a fake date tonight?"

"We don't?" Izzy asked him, looking a little curious.

Simon was pleased to note that she still had her arms around him.

Simon shook his head. "And what if we don't stage a fake breakup in a couple weeks?"

Izzy definitely looked intrigued now.

"What if, instead, we uh…we count the dinner tonight as our first date, and then we go on another first date sometime soon, and we see where things go from there?" Simon was definitely feeling nervous now. At the back of his mind, he still feared some kind of rejection. Izzy might have just kissed him, but what if it was too much, asking her to continue with the boyfriend-and-girlfriend thing, but as an actual, real couple?

To Simon's relief, Izzy nodded in agreement to all of his suggestions.

"So, you, uh, you wanna go on another first date sometime?" Simon asked her as another grin spread over his face. It took all of his effort not to break out into some kind of celebratory dance.

"How about right now?" Izzy asked him.

* * *

They ended up at a bar that wasn't too far from Simon's apartment block.

The bar was small, intimate, just the kind of place that Simon would have chosen to hang out at.

Several comfortable-looking chairs and couches had been placed around the room, all of them with blankets on, no doubt for all the couples to cuddle under as they listened to the live music.

The bar staff were serving both alcoholic drinks and hot drinks, and a band had set up by the far wall of the room. The band members were currently playing slow, romantic songs, while a few couples slow-danced on the small dance floor in the middle of the room.

Simon and Izzy chose one of the sofas a little distance away from the band and the dance floor.

After they'd shared an extravagant-looking cocktail, Izzy ended up leaning back against Simon.

Simon put his arm around her, feeling happier than he had felt in a long time. He almost wanted to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming; it was too good to be true; he was here, on a date, with Isabelle Lightwood, who was leaning into him with a smile on her face; Izzy might actually be his girlfriend now.

He felt another thrill run through his body as Izzy reached up with her uninjured hand to take Simon's hand in hers. The two of them alternated between holding hands and using their fingertips to trace delicate patterns over each other's hands and wrists. It was possibly one of the happiest moments of Simon's life, although he would never admit that to Jace or any of his friends, in case they mocked him for it.

Izzy looked more relaxed than she had looked all night. She had taken her mom's jacket off, placing it over the back of the couch, and she had let her hair down, so that it was now falling beautifully over her shoulders. The look on Izzy's face was happy, content, almost. Simon thought that she looked more beautiful than ever.

"What are you thinking about?" Simon couldn't help asking Izzy, unable to help what he knew was a totally devoted look from crossing his face as he looked at her, which he might have felt embarrassed about, but then he reminded himself that he was allowed to look at Izzy like that now.

Simon felt a little embarrassed all over again after he'd asked the question. He wondered if it was a little too much, to be asking Izzy already about what she was thinking.

Luckily, Izzy didn't seem fazed by the question. "I'm thinking about how this doesn't feel weird," Izzy replied as she gestured from herself to Simon before a soft smile crossed her face. She seemed to be pleasantly surprised by this realisation; Simon wondered if something in her past relationships had maybe not quite felt right.

"Yeah," Simon agreed, unable to stop the smile that crossed his face, "it's the opposite of weird."

The two of them were interrupted from staring into each other's eyes by the unexpected arrival of Clary and Jace. It seemed that this was where they'd been planning on heading to tonight after the family dinner.

Simon sighed. He and Jace always seemed to end up hanging out at the same places, even though they both always insisted to anyone who would listen that they actively tried to avoid each other.

Jace rolled his eyes when he caught sight of Simon, especially when Clary started waving enthusiastically in his direction.

However, when Jace walked past the two of them, he smiled and playfully ruffled Simon's hair before he carried on walking to the bar with Clary to order drinks.

Simon would have felt confused by this gesture, but this wasn't the first time that Jace had unexpectedly shared almost affectionate gestures with Simon when they were hanging out together. He wondered if Izzy and Clary's constant insistence that Jace didn't really dislike Simon and actually treated him the same way that he treated most people before he became their friend might actually have some truth to it. Maybe their 'rivalry' was simply a show that the two of them put on for the rest of the world.

The two couples seemed to reach an unspoken agreement to give each other some space and enjoy their dates separately. Simon and Izzy stayed on the couch, while Jace and Clary found seats a little closer to the dance floor.

After they'd finished their drinks, Simon saw Jace stand up and hold out his hand to Clary, asking her to dance.

The two of them started slow-dancing together in the middle of the dance floor as a romantic song played, with Jace holding Clary close as they looked deep into each other's eyes.

"Are you saving this up for future mocking material?" Izzy asked Simon with a raised eyebrow as she looked pointedly from him to Jace.

"Of course not," Simon replied a little too quickly, trying to hide his laughter. Maybe he would let Jace away with this one though.

"What are _you_ thinking about?" Izzy asked Simon after another comfortable silence. She looked up at him, looking like she was genuinely interested to know.

"I'm thinking about how awesome it is, that I get to have two first dates with you in one night," Simon replied. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world," he added. He blushed a little as soon as he finished speaking. "Uh…we are gonna count them both as first dates, right?" he asked Izzy uncertainly, worrying that he'd assumed too much.

Izzy nodded, but she seemed to be distracted, if the intense-looking expression on her face as she continued to look up at Simon was anything to go by.

After a few more moments of looking at Simon, she sat up a little and kissed him, practically taking Simon's breath away with the sensation of how perfect the kiss felt.

He allowed himself to get lost in the kiss for what could have been minutes or hours.

When Izzy pulled back a little from the kiss, she still stayed close. " _I'm_ the lucky one," she whispered against Simon's lips, before Simon leaned forward to kiss her again.


End file.
